A Case Study of UNITEL's Human Resource Policies

HR Case Study

HR CASE STUDY: UNITEL

Executive Summary

The change process has to be a carefully thought-out process since it affects all the company stakeholders from low to high hierarchy levels. This paper attempts to identify and analyze key human resource and employee relations issues in Unitel's case when the firm tried to introduce Vision 2022. This new cultural change required a transformation that was to impact all levels of the chain of command. The change required the managers to be communicative and gain the employees' trust for better operational and competitive performance. The issues were related to the cultural change itself, poor employee and industrial relations, such as those with the union members, and weak management practices. The recommendations aim to resolve the issues with Kotter's model for cultural change, soft HRM, theoretical models of participative leadership including motivational and exchange-based models, and workplace partnership with the highlights of the pluralist theory of employee relations.

Table of Contents

Introduction 4

Identification, Analysis of Key HR and ER Issues and Their Recommendations 4

Issue Identification: Cultural Change 4

Issue 1: Employees’ readiness for adapting to change 5

Issue 2: Inability of the new change strategy to take employees

into trust and making them feel that they are wanted for it 5

Recommendations 6

Issue Identification: Poor Employee Relations 7

Issue 3: Lack of communication between managers and employees 7

Issue 4: Inclusivity in decision making 7

Issue 5: Perceptions that Vision 2022 is only about low levels

and not high levels 8

Issue 6: Misalignment of change strategy goals with the employee goals 9

Recommendations 9

Issue Identification 7: Poor Management Performance 10 Recommendations 11

Issue Identification 8: Weak Industrial Relations 12

Recommendations 12

Conclusion and Recommendations 13

Reference List 15

HR Case Study: Unitel

One of the largest telecommunications companies in Asia-Pacific is Unitel, which, after privatization, had to deal with increased competition from foreign and local firms. To cope with the increasingly competitive demands, the senior management was convinced that a change in the company's culture, which was an inevitable requirement with privatization, had to be brought. There were several problems faced by this firm when Vision 2022 was announced with the help of an external consultancy firm. This change strategy was meant to change how teams work, how actions should be taken, and how possibility thinking should be implemented. The further sections of this report would look into the key HR and ER issues that would impact its operations and competitiveness. The paper also aims to present recommendations for those issues in the end.

Identification, Analysis of Key HR and ER Issues, and Their Recommendations

Issue Identification: Cultural Change

With the introduction of Vision 2022, there was a clear change in the company's culture since the outside source, a consultancy firm, recommended that Unitel be established as the best enterprise in the region. This had some positive steps, such as standardization of Unitel with improvements in communications between the higher management and the low-level workers, enabling decisions to be made at low levels, developing a customer needs tracking facility, and formulation of U-test decision-making process. However, employees did not feel a sense of inclusion when an outside firm was hired for new change implementation, and they were not motivated. Cultural change cannot be achieved with a top-down approach; rather, it should create an environment of inclusion of employees' hearts and souls into the company and a shared perception of how things should be done (Walker & Soule 2017).

Issue 1: Employees' readiness for adapting to change

According to Kotter, there are obstacles based on which employees are reluctant to accept organizational change. These factors are the formal structure, no discouragement from the upper management from taking actions for new vision implementation, lack of skills, or difficulties with personnel or information systems (Adiratna, Fahmi & Kuswanto 2018). In Unitel's case, the formal structure, which is the management itself that seemed to be implementing changes and bringing transformation to the lower level staff, and the standardization, which was not fully acceptable for all the employees, were the main reasons for low employee readiness for cultural change. The employees believed that Vision 2022 was all about bringing freshness to the lower staff rather than implementing change to the whole company, from low to high ranks.

Issue 2: The inability of the new change strategy to take employees into trust and making them feel that they are wanted for it

The change that was taking place and the role of employees for it should be valued, and for that, management had to show thankfulness and instill a sense of belonging within the employees. This was missing in Unitel's case as taking inputs from workers instead of the company hired, which was an outside source for implementing this new change, developed negative perceptions about Vision 2022 and the higher management itself. It seemed as if the cultural change was imposed on employees instead of having their participation; they felt dejected and were not ready. Instead, they developed adverse attitudes about the strategy: it is a waste of money and other similar opinions.

The contemporary employee relations require the workers to gain trust for a successful implementation of organizational change (Lines et al. 2005). Suppose trust is developed between the management and the employees. In that case, it becomes the sole indicator of organizational success, especially when both stakeholders are part of the same organization that has to undergo a cultural change, just as in Unitel. Information sharing becomes hassle-free, organizational citizenship behavior is properly defined in alignment with the goals, and both the parties see the acceptance of the incoming change. Though, this was not the situation in Unitel. Organizational change is a critical time where the acquisition, development, retaining, or destruction of trust is seen, and the managers can only make effective decisions if they can gain the trust of their subordinates.

Recommendations

All the collective issues for cultural change can be dealt with using Kotter's model for cultural change (Carman et al. 2019). The first phase is creating a sense of urgency, building a guiding team, and developing a vision and strategy. In this phase, Unitel can ask employees to identify potential threats, which was increased market competitiveness for becoming a private company. The employees are the internal strength of a company and know the organization closely. Their inputs would be valued. The second phase is about communicating the change vision, empowering employees for the required actions, and defining short term victories. Incorporating their feedback and their ideas for the cultural change and how strategies should be implemented at each level of Unitel's hierarchy would be beneficial. Even if the company wants to take help from an outside source, including its employees and empowering them, it would be helpful. The third phase is to consolidate gains and to stick to the change. Analyzing the successful implementation and continuation of the communication process between the upper and lower management would support sustaining change in Unitel. New and existing priorities set after the enactment of Vision 2022 should be welcomed by all equally.

Identification of Issue: Poor Employee Relations

Several issues of poor employee relations were seen in Unitel's case. They are discussed as follows:

Issue 3: Lack of communication between managers and employees

The employees were divided into two groups with the intervention of Vision 2022: believers and non-believers. The perceptions of non-believers were creating negative conceptions about the cultural change the management connected with this procedure. They thought that "the management is deaf." There was weak communication as the office was facing under-staffing and shortage of materials. Simultaneously, the management was busy buying cheap equipment to marginalize their profits as maximum as possible. The "rank and file" was meant to work together, but this was not Unitel's case.

A communication bridge needs to be maintained at all times if a company wants to succeed. Suppose the cultural change was necessary to implement proper communication at all levels of the hierarchy for better overall performance in the market. Only then Unitel would create a competitive edge, but this was not seen in this case. The firm was adamant about creating change without effective communiqué whose positive consequences were lost.

Issue 4: Inclusivity in decision making

There was no inclusivity of the low-level employees in the decision making when Vision 2022 was applied. Although communication was increased when it came to cultural change, Vision 2022 required certain milestones to be met by the departments. This implanted a thought within the employees' minds that their attitudes were the ones that need to be changed rather than the whole structural change of the organization. They were told by the upper management their problems were self-induced for which the main reason was their attitude.

Unitel's employees felt out of place when Vision 2022 was initiated as they thought they were not included in the company's decision of new cultural change. In contrast, decision making should be a team-based process (Landry, 2020). It appeared that the cultural change was to change employees' attitudes, and the top hierarchy thought that the employees were the main problem. This provoked a repulsive feeling about their company that would not be favorable for the company's market image and operational effectiveness.

Issue 5: Perceptions that Vision 2022 is only about low levels and not high levels

Many staff members thought that Vision 2022 was about creating an impression of the top management on the lower management. The employees felt that a team-based culture that existed before was now missing, and they desired a culture where the customers should be considered top priority but not at the expense of staff members. Top management only selected "change agents" who were motivated for this change and were ready to provide their enthusiasm for Vision 2022. A culture of unique internal-external positioning was not seen, and the higher management was not addressing the skepticism of the non-believers of change.

In Unitel, where perceptions were negative about the new alteration, and the low-level employees needed a mentoring that Vision 2022 is not about higher staff only, the impacts on operational efficiency would be damaging. The employees would not feel connected with the company and think they are wasting their time and energies in the wrong company. The company performance would go down, and the market image would be massively destroyed.

Issue 6: Misalignment of change strategy goals with the employee goals

Another apparent employee issue in Unitel's case was there seemed a misalignment of change goals and the employee goals. Exemplary leaders try to set common goals that are accepted by the employees and beneficial for the company. In Unitel's case, this was not witnessed as the employees thought the top management was busy making their own decisions without considering the concerns and worries of the non-believers of cultural change in Unitel. Team spirit was missing, and there was no intellectual drive noticed from the employees' side.

This issue would create problems for Unitel's operational and competitive efficiency since employees would not feel a sense of belonging. They would not be agreeable to provide their services to the new change. There would be low morale of employees, and when this situation occurs, the quality and services both become degraded. If such operational performance reaches the consumers and the competitive market, then its image would be badly affected.

Recommendations

All the collective issues for poor employee relations can be settled with a soft HRM approach. An effective people management would only be possible with soft HRM in Unitel's case instead of the hard HRM approach of the Michigan model. The soft HRM proposes that focus should be on the staff members' needs so that employee motivation should be increased and sustained (Ihuah 2014). Some strategies for soft HRM are employee empowerment, appraisal system involving employee training for the new cultural change in Unitel and relevant professional development, competitive salaries so that if they work for the strengthening of the new cultural change, they should be awarded bonuses, open and transparent business environment where there should be clear communication, and above all, emphasizing on long term planning for organization's workforce. Communication plays an integral part in employee engagement and productivity (Sadia et al. 2016).

Consequently, a strong HRM system would be developed, which would be inductive to creating a strong situation where variability in employees' perceptions would be low. They would be unified in their thoughts with their strategies and mission (Bowen & Ostroff 2004). This would help the company create a climate where an association between the employees' attitudes and organizational behaviors would be directed towards a common goal: Vision 2022 in Unitel's case.

Further, in the light of McGregor's Theory X and Y, theory Y would be more constructive in enhancing employee motivation and escalating readiness level for the new cultural change in Unitel. The employees would be happy to work on the new initiative once they realize that they accept responsibility and have self-motivation to complete the task at hand (Kopelman, Prottas & Davis 2008). They would be embraced in decision making and would help in problem-solving with their innovative ideas. They require little direction to be fulfilling for completing challenging tasks like Vision 2022.

Issue Identification 7: Poor Management Performance

In Unitels' case, it was believed that management was busy in creating an image for their employees only since they wanted to change perceptions of the low-level employees, rather than the whole organization. Union members thought that Vision 2022 was about empowering people by allowing them to participate in the decision. Contrarily, in Unitel's case, it seemed that the management was engaged in marketing this new vision to the employee only. The staff-orientated values were not noticed in the new vision, and the employees were not satisfied.

This situation was not beneficial for Unitel since it would create a negative market image for the company. The performance would steep low as the employees would not be content with their management and unwilling to follow their orders (Nicholson 2003). The workers would know they would not be acknowledged or rewarded and would have low motivation levels. Unitel's competitive image would also be affected adversely since the rivals would realize that the firm is not capable of handling its workforce and not even able to handle its operations for its customers.

Recommendations

The issue of poor management performance can be resolved with two theoretical models of participative leadership: the motivational and exchange-based models (Huang et al. 2010). According to the motivational model, more chances of participation in decision-making with the top management for Vision 2022 can be provided to the employees to feel connected with Unitel and work ambitiously with the employers' perception of intrinsic rewards. The exchange-based model suggests that Unitel should have a participative leadership that would instill a sense of concern and respect for the subordinates. That would be felt by employees leading them to have trust within their superiors. Both of these models would create better work performance, ultimately, an upgraded working organizational culture and boosted competitiveness. The employees' opinion that Vison 2022 is not for high level but low-level workers, whereas they thought the cultural change should be effective on all levels of the hierarchy, this notion would be taken away if these two theories are applied for better leadership and management, resulting in gaining and retaining higher trust in the management.

Issue Identification 8: Weak Industrial Relations

The union acts as a bridge for the company and its employees to bargain with the employees' salary and working conditions (Creighton 2018). The union's role is to assist the employer in hiring skilled workers for the tasks that need to be done in the factory to send a high-quality product to the consumer market. Unitel seemed less interested in discussing the new vision to its union members, and the union people were not happy about it. They thought they were not being included in the new cultural change, and also they were doubtful that it was about targeting them. It was feared that if the union members' rights were not protected in this new change, they ought to be left with no choice but to leave the firm, which would be bad for the firm's competitive image in the market. If there is a conflict amid the union employees and the administration, there would be a high turnover rate. As a result, the union members would have less negotiating power but would be forced to quit their jobs, leading the company to hire new employees and training.

Recommendations

For the issue faced with the union members, a workplace partnership would be an effective solution. It would help create collaborative partnerships among the employments agents, such as the company management and the union members (Saif et al. 2013). The firm's interests and the union circles would be formulated to be unified and work in harmony to accomplish new cultural change within Unitel. When the union would be involved in the decision-making process, they would be partnered into the mutual benefits and the profit sharing of the company from new cultural change. Here, the pluralist theory of ER (Abbott 2006) would be highlighted when the remunerations would be distributed equally among the partnership agreement participants. There are three stages: setting the rules, information sharing, and resolution of disagreements (Geary & Trif 2011).

Conclusion and Recommendations

Unitel must realize that change within the organization is impossible without its people's help, which are employees and union members. Their people's uncertainty must be resolved so that their enthusiastic participation brings a shared vision for attaining company goals that would consequently reward the employees. Change readiness is an essential part of an organization's cultural change since it would help develop employees' attitudes for bringing a change initiative. Administrative, procedural, and structural changes would be required for the better overall performance of the company. The readiness level can be modified based on the level of acceptance or rejection of the employees. Employee engagement and participation should be present on all hierarchical levels since the organization's cultural change would be applied to all and would impact low to high levels. Their trust can be gained by decreasing their resistance to change since that would help improve organizational commitment and the management itself.

Some of the recommended solutions for the identified issues are as follows: