Human Resources Analysis of Nishat Mills Limited (NML)

Executive summary;

In South Asia Nishat group has its own identity. In Pakistan its net worth is so much high because of its largest units in the country. Nishat has diversified its self into the biggest sectors like textile, power generation, cement etc. and each company of this group is a leading player in their own sector.

Introduction;

In 1951 NML started business. Initially it was a partnership based organization but later on, in 1959 it becomes a private limited company. Then this organization becomes public in 1961 and in Karachi Stock Exchange it is listed. This company includes the units of spinning, processing, weaving and stitching etc. and the units of this company are 32. And this is also a flag ship company of the Pakistan.

Question no 1;

The role of investment in training and development of human resource

NML pays more attention in training and development of human resource to increase productivity level and to fulfill organizational goals. To improve employee’s core competencies training and development programs are arranged in NML. Investment done in the form of developing human capital to improve skills, abilities and capabilities of their workers so that the firm could get higher position in the market and improve performance of the organization. And NML’s human resource department provide training programs according to the need of the employees and make sure that these programs go smoothly and successful by checking the performance of the employees time to time.

Training and development programs;

For this NML provides behavioral and technical trainings to their employees. NML also focuses on TQM and quality circles which helps the company to solve the problems of the employees and improve efficiency and their motivation levels and this ultimately leads to increase the productivity of the organization. On the job training and workshops are also arranged to fulfill the requirement of a particular job of an employee. Special course classes and sessions are conducted to provide complete knowledge about environment of the organization. For the training of managers and supervisors the human resource department arrange a training program like Japanese production method and style to reduce communication barriers at production place and to increase affiliation with juniors and front line workers.

To develop the principle leadership skills in middle line manager human resource department of NML provide a course of executive development. And to improve the working style and attitude of employees the managers are provided with the course of programming of Neuro-linguistic in the organization also.

To give the knowledge about labor rights, working hours, wage rates etc. the human resource department arrange seminars on the labor laws with the professionals of labor department.

To train the people who have talent in stitching and weaving but they are uneducated and do not know about the terminologies and English language. To train these type of employees human resource department arrange classes for learning English language in the organization to give them confidence also.

These training programs are arranged to improve the skills and abilities of the employees. And to increase productivity and quality of the goods these programs are conducted to compete in the market and to export high quality textile products to other countries. Human resource department of NML govern all these programs and many other also to improve the efficiency and productivity of employees and this department always try to do its best to make these programs successful. These training programs always bring positive effects on the personality of employees and give them confidence to improve yourself to handle the things efficiently to get organizational goals.

Role of human resource policies;

In NML human resource policies are designed to fulfill organizational objectives and strategic goals. Human resource policies about training and development are as under;

• To identify the need of training through the performance of the employees
• To focus more on line managers so that they could transfer their skills and knowledge to their subordinates and labors.
• To make training schedules as per the need of organization and employees at all levels in the forms of seminars, conferences and workshops etc.
• In the training programs all the concerned employees make sure their attendance and assessment.

Objectives and strategic goals;

• To provide training schemes and apprenticeship at all level of employees.
• To make optimum use of the skills, abilities and capabilities of all the employees in the organization
• To provide the firm with trained and motivated employees.

The objective of training and development are made when the human resource policies are implemented. And the human resource department of NML govern all that process of training and analyze that the goals and objectives are achieved or not and human resource policies are made in this regard. And these policies are aligned with the objectives and goals. And the goals of the training and development is to bring motivation and improving skills and abilities of the employees for that purpose human resource policies are made like training is provided as per the need of the employee at the right time.

Question no 2:

Difference between leadership and management;

Management;

Management is a procedure of controlling and dealing with people.

A manager is a person who carries out four important functions of the management like planning, organizing, leading and controlling.

Leadership;

The role of leadership can be played by anyone because it does not hold authority in the organization. Leadership is visionary, creative and adaptive. Leadership is a process of motivating and leading group of people or a team. A person who plays the role of leadership called as leader. And a leader shows personally interest in tasks and projects and shows passion of work at high level. A leader followed by his followers because of his personality, behavior and motivation. For example Liaqat Ali Khan and Benazir Bhutto according to great man theory that leaders cannot be made they have inborn qualities of leadership. And leadership is behavior and impact on employees.

Innovation and organization

A leader has the quality of foresightedness and he has the ability to innovate or invent new strategies and techniques for the betterment of the organization. And he also have complete and deep knowledge about new trends and advancement in the technology. For example Mark Zukerberg and Dic Costolo etc.

A manager is the person whose main purpose is to maintain and organize the work which is already placed. For example a human resource manager in an organization always tries to follow the human resource process while selecting an employee.

Trust and control;

A leader tries his best to motivate other people and the followers trust on him about the path on which he directed the whole team.

A manager has to keep control on his subordinates because a manager’s subordinate tries to follow the orders of his manager so that they could achieve targets and objectives of the organization.

What and why versus how and when;

After making efforts a leader ask questions like what and why when the result come so that they could learn from their deficiencies and improvements can be made to achieve their goals. For example a leader can ask like why you used these strategies and what the reasons were behind.

A manger ask strictly from his subordinates about their performance when they do not meet the set goals and objectives. A manager ask questions like how and when the work was done when they face failure in a project. For example a manger can ask from his subordinate like when you have completed the work and how did you forward this file to other manager without taking signatures of upper management.

Principles and policies;

A leader makes principles so that his followers could get guidance from his principles.

A manager make policies about a project or work and wants his subordinates should follow a procedure to make a project successful.

Transformational leadership skills;

To help the subordinates when they face any problem the managers at NML adopt democratic leadership style to guide the employees and to resolve conflicts among employees also. Open door policy is also adopted by the managers to resolve the issues of the employees. Managers at NML believes that the element of honesty should be in the employees so that they could help the employees with proper attention and on time so that the organization do not suffer any loss.

The managers and leaders of NML adopt different leadership styles to solve the problems and most of them use situational leadership style and democratic style but when the situation goes out of hand they go to analytic leadership style to stable the environment of the organization and to fulfill the goals and objectives of the organization. And they also use autocratic style to make some decisions with their employees.

Question no 3;

Global HR strategies;

Globalization means expanding your business outside of your company. While expanding the business human resource of an organization face so many challenges about the recruitment, training programs and adjustment in culture of that country. To overcome these hurdles a manger should understand the culture of that country and implement global human resource strategies which varies from country to country. And these strategies represent culture of job, working hours etc. in that country. Like;

In the meetings and conferences employees should come on time.

To ask question, it is the culture of developed countries when an employee has some confusion about the work he can easily ask questions from his boss and managers but in developing countries it has different effect, an employee should respect his boss and by his anger he can’t ask any question from him. But there should be a formal environment among boss and his employee.

Disagreeableness, in developing countries like in India, Pakistan etc. only boss and his superior managers can easily share their feelings and opinions and they can also disagree upon some points or information but the lower class workers do not have any right to share their feelings openly to the top management. But in some countries like in Australia people do not afraid of feeling their opinions and suggestions. But there should be formally sharing of opinions with the boss and managers and should represent your view point in effective and proper manners.

Personal space, people should respect their coworkers and colleagues in the working environment for example in developing countries like in India and in Pakistan people shout shake their hands when they meet otherwise they do not have any right to touch your coworker.

Dress codes, in every country dress code differs like in the countries of Muslims like Pakistan, Iran etc. full formal dress code is suggested for men and women both but in other western countries like in America, Australia, china, Europe etc. there can be or cannot be the formality of formal dress code women can also wear casual dress at the working environment. But there should be formality of proper dress code in every country.

Informality, in many countries like America employees called their boss, supervisor, managers etc. by their names to respect their work relationship with each other and they do not call them sir or boss etc. but in other countries like in Pakistan, India etc. there is a culture of calling your supervisor, manager or boss with sir or madam employees are not allowed to call their seniors and boss with their names.

Position or rank, in many countries like in Pakistan, India etc. senior management or boss do not take part directly in production work and they do not do more work as compare to front line managers but they are paid with high scale salary but on the other hand front line managers and his subordinates do not get high pay scale as compare to their hard work. But in other countries this scenario can also differs.

Cross national challenges;

NML is expanding its business across the world for example in North America, Malaysia etc. while expanding the business in other countries brings so many challenges for human resource management like selecting a new employee in another country changes the process of recruiting, selecting and training programs.

To understand the importance of culture is very important for an organization to globalize its business for example NML is locally a Pakistani brand and the culture of Pakistan is shalwar kameez but when the organization goes to another countries the culture of that country will be change like in western side people wear tops and jeans etc. so the organization must have to understand the culture of that country in which it is expanding its business and must develop those training programs that fit into that environment of the country.

Communication barriers occurs when company goes in another countries. For example locally the employees of NML uses Urdu, Punjabi and English language which they can easily understand and communicate but when NML goes in another countries the barrier of language and communication arises which creates so many problems for HR department.

Managing diversity

As a human resource manager I would manage diversity in the organization by encouraging employees to work together with diversified groups so that they can understand their cultural backgrounds, communicate effectively, help each other and by doing so the conflicts among employees will reduce. And by improving communication among employees cultural and language problems will reduce. And every employee will be judged by his job performance not on his cultural background and nationality. And I would focus on their job related problems not on personal issues. And to manage diversity effectively we should give holidays on their special cultural occasion like Christmas and everyone in the organization should support their cultural events and make it special for them.

Question no 4;

Reward system;

In NML on the basis of behavior and performance rewards are given to the employees. To satisfy the employees and to encourage them to perform better and efficiently NML uses cash base and noncash base rewards to motivate the employees. And NML also give rewards to employees to reduce employee turnover rate.

Promotion;

When an employee performing his duties above average and manager is satisfied from his job performance the organization give promotion to that employee on the basis of his job performance and experience.

Increments;

On the basis of good performance of an employee NML give incremental rewards to that employee. And the decision is made at the end of the financial year at NML. And it is one of the best reward to motivate an employee to perform better and achieve organizational goals and objectives.

Bonuses;

Bonuses is an additional amount paid on special occasion in an organization. In NML, on the basis of performance bonuses are given to the employees.

Housing facility;

NML has made a colony NISHATABAD and this housing facility is provided to those mangers and employees whose productive efficiency is very good and they actually give benefit to the organization.

Performance measurement approaches;

Behaviorally anchored rating scale

It is one of the most using modern technique to appraise performance. It consist of narrative type tool like writing essay about performance and quantifiable technique production related. It is costly than other techniques. And employee’s behavior is judged against some specific kinds of behavior.

Management by objectives;

This technique takes less time and it is not expensive technique. In this technique a manager or a supervisor and employees set goals and objectives together to improve the performance. And in this technique there is no biasness to evaluate the performance of an employee. .

360 degree feedback;

This technique is used to know about the strengths and weaknesses of an employee in this method employee’s manager or supervisor, peers or people working around him give feedback about the performance and attitude of that employee during working hours. In this technique it comprises of different questions about the attitude towards work and his productive efficiency.

Appraisal technique in NML;

To check the performance of an employee NML uses technique of 360 degree feedback because there are a lot of employees in the organization and no one in the organization have time to observe the performance of each and every employee so to check the performance of an employee and behavior with other people a questionnaire is made and distributed among the employees, peers and supervisors around that employee. By this technique managers can come across the strengths and weaknesses of that employee. Time is saved due to this technique. By the result of this method manger can improve the skills of that employee by arranging training programs and can also do job rotation so that he can improve his skills and abilities. And the result should discuss with employees and manger ask about issues which he have during his job.

Conclusion;

NML is one of the best textile mill of the Pakistan. In higher productivity and achievement of goals human resource management plays very important role by providing training programs to the employees at the right time to improve the efficiency and skills of the employees. Employees are motivated by the leaders to perform better and in NML rewards are given on the basis of the good performance. And NML human resource management face so many challenges while expanding the business in other countries like language and cultural barriers etc.

Recommendations;

Employee’s empowerment;

The managers in NML should involve their employees in decision making process so that they can freely share their views and opinions about work. And they should listen to their employee’s ideas and give them opportunities to step forward and present their ideas and make their career development.

Provide cafeteria and other amenities;

In NML there is no cafeteria with the proper facilities of food. And employees face difficulty in getting food outside the organization. And during the working hours they also get tired and need refreshment so there should be facility of cafeteria to improve the efficiency of employees.

Facility of medical treatments;

In NML medical facilities are provided to those employees who are directly involved in production work but the organization should provide this facility to the employees working outside the production department.

References;

• www.academia.edu/4761643/Nishat
• https://ehsdailyadvisor.blr.com/2010/07/5-steps-for-successfully-managing-diversity/
• https://www.sumhr.com/top-performance-appraisal-methods-startups-small-businesses/
• https://www.canstar.com.au/health-insurance/overseas-student-health-cover/
• https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/full/10.1108/14133810110955463
• https://vjkaif.blogspot.com/2015/12/leadership-skills-final-project-nishat.html