MBS HUMAN RESOURCES HR/jan2009/1

HR/Jan2009/1

Human Resources
Cyrille Kalenga Wa Ngoy: mzyxgcw8

Student Number: 7406194

Page 1 of 10
 BONUS= Gross Salary x Bonus % for the Level x Actual Target Rating as a Percentage....................................6

1. Executive Summary

This Essay reviews and discusses the Human Resource policies and practices
at Vodacom Congo DRC which is a subsidiary of Vodacom South Africa Mobile
operator in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Organisation is implementing strategic HR as a change agent, brought from

Headquarter in South Africa since Vodacom SA acquired a subsidiary in
Democratic Republic of Congo in 2001 and try to replace an outdated
personnel department in vogue in many corporate companies in the country.

During the past seven years, the company has introduced strategic HR
policies with increased training and development of employees, compensation
and rewards and innovation with the introduction of bonus payment on profit
based performance incentives (PBPI). This has proved a world class model but
the pitfall was about the performance management should be as a philosophy
rather than a particular set of policies and practices according to Doyle cited
by (McKenna and Beech “Human Resource Management’’ page 219).

As stated in the literature, there are fundamental differences in the approach

to HR, ‘hard’ and ‘Soft’ versions of HRM, in case of Vodacom Congo; more
emphasis is place on hard approach during the HRP when the headcount is
more linked to number of subscriber per employee. During the beginning of
the financial year, the company strategy defines the budget in term of
subscriber base to be reached with the target of 2000 subs per employee;
hence, the headcount for the year can be forecasted and the roll out during
the year planned. In the dynamic environment of telecommunication, it might
be better to mix with soft approach to be flexible.

The company is operated in a very competitive market and is widely reported

in the news paper due to the success of the business. It ranked number one
after 3 years Operations in term of market share even if it was the last mover
entrant in the market. The competitive advantage as shown by the market
survey is linked to quality and perceived as a care Company for employees
and community.

This has taken a great deal of their resources in the planning and
implementing stage of expansion. Reinforcing the culture and values through
training will focus employees on their roles.

2. Organization overview
Vodacom Congo s.p.r.l. (Vodacom Congo) was established on 11 December
2001 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the network was
officially launched on 1 May 2002. Vodacom International Limited (Mauritius)
owns a 51% interest in Vodacom Congo, with the remaining 49% owned by
Congolese Wireless Network s.p.r.l. Vodacom Congo is currently performing
well under challenging circumstances. Despite aggressive competition for
market share, Vodacom Congo has been able to surpass competition and
retain dominance in the Congolese cellular market. The main contributing
factors in achieving customer and profit growth include coverage rollout in
strategic areas, implementation of an effective and aggressive sale and
distribution strategy and an improvement in consumer confidence and
spending.

3. Description of Headcount for organization

The table below shows the headcount of the company for 5 consecutive years.

Headcount, Recruitment and

Turnover

Year Year Budget

Year Ending Review
Ending
Ending 31-Mar-07 Ending 2008/2009
31-Mar-
31-Mar-06 31-Mar-08
05

Opening
263 402 450 502 683
Headcount

Recruitment 157 69 87 200 105

Turnover 18 21 35 19 55

Closing
402 450 502 683 733
Headcount

%Turnover 4% 5% 7% 3% 8%

% Budget
8% 8% 8% 8% 8%
Turnover

Variance 4% 3% 1% 5%

4. Vodacom HR policy

We will try to report on the organizations HR policies, the information is taken

from company intranet and some copies are included in the attachment. We
can find below the list of policies available for the company. Please find below
the Policies and Procedures depicting the different processes in force in
Vodacom Congo:

A. Recruitment and Selection

- Recruitment

B. Performance Appraisal and compensation

- Performance Management
- Training and Development
- Payroll
- Customer Care Bonus
- Leave
- Medical
- Overtime
- PBPI
- Employee of the month
- Breastfeeding
- Funeral Policy
- Company Cell Phones

C. Training

- Training and Development

- Yebo Bursary
- Mentorship

4.1 Recruitment and selection

In Vodacom Congo, when there are some new opportunities for internal staff,
HR department will advertise the position internally via email to all
employees. If no one has been selected, then they will advertise outside the
company (in the newspapers, job centres etc.). In all cases, HR will proceed
with a shortlist based on biodata and only the candidates retained will be
invited for interview. HR will put in place a panel as interviewers for the
position. During the interview, the panel will ask the candidate a set of
questions. Each member of panel will rate the candidate based on set of
criteria discussed prior the interview. The selected candidate will be one who
is ranking no1 according to the evaluation matrix. In Vodacom, the most
selection method used is the interwiew.

4.2 Performance Appraisal and compensation

Performance targets are set annually by the Board of Director and are
incorporated into Performance Management System. The annual performance
targets are cascaded down in the organisation and must be incorporated into
the individual’s Key Performance Area’s (KPA’s) and Key Performance
Objectives (KPO’s) and Profit Based Performance incentive Targets. The
Performance Management System must accommodate and be sensitive to
continually changing environment of the business and as such should be
reviewed on a regular basis. The Performance Management System must be
integrated with other HR Systems e.g. Training and Development, Disciplinary
Procedures and Succession Planning. There is no direct link between the
KPA/KPO’s ratings and the annual salary adjustment. At Vodacom’s the
appraisal system is carried out twice a year, an interim target review
completed by middle of November of each year, and a final Performance
Target evaluation completed by 31 March of each year. The interim and final
evaluation results must be recorded and the relevant documents signed by
both the line manager and employee accepting. An appraisal system is an
opportunity to discuss with members of staff what’s going well, what can be
improved, how they would like to develop and any reasonable suggestion
from any member of staff. Vodacom Congo introduced a new concept in DRC
with Profit Based Performance Incentive (PBPI); international companies have
long realized the role that incentive pay plays in driving successful companies.
In the DRC, however, performance incentive is a fairly new concept and most
companies are still working on a basic package with added benefits.

Vodacom wants to realize the following objectives when it embarks on the

strategy to implement a Profit Based Performance Incentive Scheme:

- Drive Company performance.

- Retention of talented employees who are self driven and in support of
the companies’ objectives.
- The Scheme is aimed at encouraging executives to apply success-
creating behavior in focused areas and reward employees well for that
success, but also penalize poor work performance.

The Profit Based Performance Incentive (PBPI) is paid at the sole discretion of
the Board of Directors.
Vodacom will share, with employees, profits in excess of that set as the
shareholder’s annual return target. The payment of PBPI is not automatic. It
is always contingent on company and individual performance.
The tables 1 and 2 show the performance management rating and incentives
bonus scheme used at Vodacom Congo.

Table 1: Performance Management rating

Performance Rating
Percentage of Profit
Rating
Incentive
(measured against target)

0% - 40% (poor
No incentive
performance) C1
Actual Percentage as
41% - 60%
C2 per rating

61% - 70% C3 70%

71% - 80% B4 80%

81% - 90% B5 90%

91% - 100% (Excellent

100%
Performance)
A6

Table 2: Performance based management: incentive bonus

Maximum Potential Bonus

Level % Standard Stretch
Level
3 100% 15% 30%
Level
4 60% 15% 15%
Level
5 60% 12% NA
Level
6 60% 12% NA

Note: Should the company achieve financial target

Based on the above tables, for all levels the calculation of the incentive bonus
will be as:

BONUS= Gross Salary x Bonus % for the Level x Actual Target Rating
as a Percentage

The pay and reward system at Vodacom’s is done every year. For the best
members of the staff those have contributed to the company in very big way
or have excellence in rendering extraordinary customer service. The company
will give them certificates of recognition, praise and values Award called ‘’MD
Awards’’ the value is 6000 USD.
There is another reward called ‘’ Employee of the month Award’’, the objective
of the prize is to reward an employee as Vodacom recognize excellence
performance of employee through bestowing the Award for excellence in daily
performance.

The nominee will be awarded with a prize as part of management’s

appreciation and recognition of his outstanding performance and achievement
during a specific period. The reward will be presented at the staff function
each month.

We can say that Vodacom’s they use motivation theories in order to motivate
staff.

The company uses the Maslow theory by helping staff set and reaches their
own personal targets according to their needs by giving them rewards for
good performance. We can also think of Mcgregor’s (theory X and Y) and
Herzberg’s two factor theory. They use them by giving then a reasonable pay,
satisfactory conditions of work and benefits packages such as sick pay,
pension’s schemes. The company pays also bonuses to motivate customer
agents in the call center.

4.3 Training and development

The objective of Training and Development is to continuously develop

employees to be competent in their current positions and to prepare them for
possible future assignments to optimize their work performance in achieving
Vodacom’s objectives

At Vodacom Congo’s there are a lot of different types of training based on

different departments such as on-the-job training, health & safety, computer
based training (CBT) for more general training in management, finance for
non professionals, IT, programming etc., oversees training in the training
centres from different supplies.

In line with the Vodacom Congo’s commitment to the development of its

employees, it has been put in place an internal bursary scheme to provide
financial assistance in respect of education to permanent employees. The
internal bursary scheme is known as the Yebo Bursary Scheme. The employee
Personal Development Plan (PDP), the overall work performance and the
succession planning and development imperatives will be determinant factors
before a bursary is awarded. The bursars are obliged to remain in the
employment of the employer or within the Vodacom Group of companies for a
specific contractual period. As MBA student at Manchester, I was awarded the
Yebo to complete my study.
Any employee, who would like to develop certain managerial or technical
competencies through mentoring, can apply for candidature on the Mentorship
Programme.

Vodacom’s Mentorship Programme is a typical example of a formal

programme. It is very effective in cases where the person who wants to
develop knows exactly what his objectives for the mentoring relationship are.
It will not work if he only has a vague idea of what he would like to develop.
The aspect that the mentee would like to develop should also suit the medium
of mentoring. If the competency can be gained in any other way, mentoring is
not the answer. The mentee should also be a person who is willing to learn
from someone else, preferably someone that he views as a role model.
Informal mentoring is also very effective, because it usually happens naturally
and people might only realise years later that they have been in a mentoring
relationship. All managers at Vodacom are expected to act as informal
mentors.

It has been put in place a learning program for 10 years called ‘’Moto Molo
program’’ The company selects the best candidates from high schools after
psychometric tests and interviews and providing them with the bursary to go
oversees to complete the baccalaureate and after completion of his degree,
The bursars are obliged to remain in the employment of the employer for a
specific contractual period.

Within Vodacom the role of most senior management staffs are of strategic
importance. At the moment most of those roles have current incumbents and
they are fulfilling their roles in an outstanding manner. However, Vodacom
wants to know where the next generation of job holders for the roles will
come from so that we can take advantage of all the opportunities to grow our
business.
 5. Conclusions and Discussions

By analyzing the key recruitment documents inside Vodacom, Job description,

Personal specification, job advertisement, interview appraisal, we can find that
main weakness is that there is not a lot of information in the job description.
No systematic method used for short listing using biodata and sometimes
selection is subjective. The composition of panel is defiant due to the fact that
some interviewers are not well trained and we recommend that each Manager
involved in the selection process attend the training in house with video as
suggested in McKenna and all (2008). There is a need to improve the good
practice in recruitment.

By looking at the information from labour market in Democratic Republic of

Congo, we can see that the level of expertise in information technology,
electronic and telecommunications is very weak for local people and the
strategic approach to train young people overseas by bestowing bursary via
Moto Molo program will provide a competitive advantage in the near future.

For performance appraisal, we remark that the performance management as

proposed by Torrington is written in paper but in practices this concept is not
yet a philosophy in the entire organization and the main weakness is that the
performance review is not linked to type of training needed in future and what
type suggestions to provide in order to improve the training.

Vodacom’s long term strategy should continue to place value on the employee
training and to integrate this value into the culture of company in order to
maintain their competitive advantage. The company needs continue to build
the psychological contract that must bind the employee to the organization if
he wants to survive in the tough environment of DRC market.
6. References

1. McKenna and Beech “Human Resource Management: a concise

analysis”, Pearson ISBN 0273 65510 8
2. Buchanan D, and Hucczynski A, (1991) Organisational Behaviour,
Prentice Hall, Padstow
3. Harrison, R(2002) (3rd edition) learning and Development: CIPD
publishing, London
4. Internet, www.tesco.com (Tesco marketing Essay, Swot Analysis, Tesco
Case Study)
5. Internet, www.vodacom.cd