By:

M. Umair Arshed

ZONG
Talking about ZONG, it is the first International brand of China Mobile being launched in Pakistan.
It is meant to empower and liberate the people of Pakistan in every nook and corner of the country. It
will become a part of their hearts, their minds and bring about a change in their lives that every one
desired but few thought would be possible.
The core essence of ZONG is to allow people to communicate at will without worrying about tariffs,
network coverage, capacity issues or congestion. ZONG will be supported by ground breaking
communications, trend setting customer service and an unmatched product offering which will
redefine rules of the game and establish ZONG as a serious competitor for the number one spot.

ZONG offers its customers with entertaining & innovative value added services and empowering
them by giving a wide variety of products, services & content to choose from.
They are honored to be the revolutionary country introducing this brand with others to follow. And
their aim is to make ZONG a success story for others to try and reproduce.
With ambitious plans to provide to the fastest growing Pakistani market and to win over the ever
demanding Pakistani customer, it will be offering extraordinary coverage, voice and data services as
well as a wide range of tariff options to choose from.
CMPak's edge comes from the experience and expertise of running the world's largest telecom
service and the commitment they make to setting quality and customer relations standards.
CMPak is geared to offer neatly packaged VAS products that will benefit the individuals, corporate
as well as small businesses. Led by a team of professionals from the field of cellular communication,
CMPak is determined to make its mark in the Pakistani market and to change the way people
communicate.
China Mobile Pakistan (ZONG) is a 100% subsidiary of China Mobile. So far
CMPak has invested more than US$ 700 million in the telecom sector in Pakistan and an additional
US$ 800 million has been invested till the end of year 2008. These largest investments by CMPak
act as ambassador of friendship between China and Pakistan. CMPak will invest more investments
to enhance its services and bring innovation to sustain its leadership in the Telecom industry of
Pakistan.
ZONG is having its operative roots in China and Pakistan, so we can regard it as an international
telecom company, having its parent company CMCC in China.

With the help of globalization, HR management has an advantage of having a bigger pool of workers
to be chosen from.

INTRODUCTION
Listening to our employees attentively is the responsibility of ZONG HR.

Your feedback will be kept in absolute confidentially by being sent only to HR Operational
Excellence Team. We ensure the facilitation of the process in the best interest of the Company and
the Employees!
Zong Human Resource Department that has the capability of performing functions such as job
analysis, recruitment, training and development, performance appraisal, setting compensation
policies and providing safety and health to their employees.
This report covers all the aspects of the human resource management concepts presently applied in
ZONG. On the basis of observation it has been extracted that Human Resource in ZONG is highly
motivated due to the perfect conditions provided to them.

Mission Statement"
To be the number one cellular operator in Pakistan

Vision Statement"
To deliver the best network services with value added services that is in reach of common person.

HIERARCHY

President

Karachi

HR

Finance

Islamabad

Marketing

Lahore

IT

Sale

STRUCTURE OF HR DEPARTMENT AT ZONG

Cheif HRM Officer

Director HRM
Senior HR Manager
Regional HR Manager
Assistant HR Manager
Team Leader
Team

RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION PROCESS

Engine

Employment planning & forec

Recruiting: Build a pool of can

Applicants complete applicatio

Use selection tools; tests to-out

scr

Director or department head in

final candidates to make final c
Candidate becomes employee
ZONG POLICIES FOR RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION
Policies for Recruitment and Selection as experienced at ZONG are:

Recruitment policy:
Objectives: The policy is meant to ensure an effective and efficient method of recruitment and
selection. It is aimed at hiring without any discrimination based on race, colour, sex, nationality,
ancestry, religion or disability.

Policy guidelines:
The recruitment policy must abide by regulations set out by the Government of Pakistan.
The Sources of recruitment for different job vacancies in ZONG shall include:
Internal Advertisement.
Databank.
Advertising.
Head hunters/executive search organizations.
Walk in candidates.
Colleges and Universities

a) External Recruitment:
Under the age candidates will not be considered.

Candidates are considered on the basis of their qualities & qualification to strictly discourage
conflict of interest, like hiring of close relations (brothers, sisters, first cousins,
brothers/sisters in law and friends etc.). Although candidates falling in this category who
have extremely good qualifications may be considered. Final decision is up to with the
concerned Divisional Head who will verify that there is no conflict of interest.

 Human Resources will give advice to Department Heads regarding salary range which is to
be offered to the applicant keeping internal and external equity in viewpoint.

Minimum qualification must be a Bachelor degree or equivalent. For call centre/support staff,
A-Level or equivalent may be considered though approval of VP Human Resources &
Administration will be required.

This criteria does not apply to technicians/riggers and secondary staff.

b) Internal Recruitment:
ZONG employees who have completed one year of service and those who are exceptionally
good are considered.

Selected candidates will join the new job/position after getting clearance from existing line
manager.

Hiring from vendors, franchises, and clients is discouraged. Exceptionally where offers are
made to employees of these entities their prior consent must be obtained.

GENERAL CONDITIONS FOR RECRUITMENT

All recruitment will be done through the Human Resource Department in consultation with the
Officers and Heads of the concerned Department.
An applicants knowledge, skill and aptitude related to the position shall be judged according to a
range of factors including:
a) Education (Academic / Professional).
b) Experience.
c) Profile and Psychometric Tests
d) Interviews.
e) References.

Application
Applicants may apply online by registering with the web based recruitment gateway. Though for a
specific position, they will be required to fill the standard application form of the Company.
All applications will be kept on HR database for a period of 6 months only.

Conditions for selection

Request forms for hiring and transfers must be forwarded to HR department for signatures.
In order to gets appropriate candidates information regarding qualifications and job description
should be forwarded to HR department.
At least ten working days should be given for selection of candidates.

Firstly internal

advertisement would be placed for suitable candidates or shortlist for databank if no suitable
candidates found than external advertisement is referred.
Screened CVs are than provided to departments and theyll conduct an interview with the
immediate Supervisor / Department / Divisional Head or his / her nominee and any job related
selection tests after that short listed candidates are interviewed finally by HR department.
To check suitability Human Resources Department may conduct Profile and Psychometric Tests for
the selected candidate.
Two Reference checks will be completed for the selected candidate either before hiring or during the
probationary period. Appointment will be subject to satisfactory references being received.
On Selection the following information will be forwarded to HR to be kept in the Employees
Personal File
a. Interview Evaluation form
b. Passport size Photos.
c. Any other special clause.
d. References.
e. Copy of N.I.C.
f. Copies of degree(s): Bachelors and above only and copies of experience certificates.
g. Duly filled application form

In the Case of Consultants the Company will sign a contract with the Consultant for a duration
ranging from 3 months to 1 year.
The Human Resource Department shall prepare and deliver the Employment Letter to the Employee
and take signatures on a copy.
These were the practices but what actually are the practices for Recruitment and selection at ZONG.
Lets explore.

Practices at ZONG regarding Recruitment and Selection

Practices regarding the recruitment and selection are in accordance with the policies formulated by
the HR department. According to employees following were the recruitment practices. Two types of
Recruitments: Internal and External.
Sources of Internal

Sources of External

Recruitment

Recruitment

Employee referrals

Job fairs

Internal advertising

University Hunts
Advertising
Emplacement Agencies
Walk in candidates

All recruitment and selection process is handled by the Human resource department. Applications
for jobs are mostly made via internet.
A selection criterion is totally based on merit. A series of interviews are conducted followed by a
panel interview and a group discussion. Only deserving candidates from a lot of applicants are
considered

Critical Review on Recruitment and Selection Process

References are used everywhere to get a job and so are used in ZONG too. Tough it's not a positive
parameter in the recruitment process but people use it as an entry point. In study we came to know
that there are number of employees who were hired in ZONG on the reference basis. But on the
other hand retaining or keeping a job is way different then getting a job.
ZONG is using the online system for the Recruitment and Selection process, which is a very positive
sign. With the growing factor and use of Internet, its much economical in terms of time and money
to fill an online application. And also its easier for a company to organize their data electronically,
which does not only help in organization but provides easy access, longer stay and remotely
accessible. This has surly reduced the stress of physical offline requirement and the company can
build a good impression to their consumers by using the latest technology.

Training
Training needs assessment Policy at ZONG
Objective: To Identify the most appropriate solutions to performance problems.
Procedures: All Company Heads should differentiate between problems that require training and
problems that require coaching or other solutions. Generally, about 20% of performance problems
require training solutions and remaining 80% is handled by the quality of supervision and other
work environmental factors (rewarding good performance, punishing poor performance, and
removing obstacles to good performance).
Developing a Company Wide Management Training Plan Objective:
Identify the needs, by management level, for the whole Company. Employees are also Facilitate
with Short Management Courses from time to time. A total-company plan after coordination of HR
Department is finalized and its implementation process starts after a follow-up with Department
Heads. After focusing discipline need of an individual, plan is to design schedule to assemble the
total-company training need.
The trainer should be under the headcount of HR so that adequate training sessions can be planned
and conducted nationwide.
Requirements for training an employee are made on supervisors
recommendation in the appraisal form or if it is not mentioned in performance appraisal than
requirements can also be forwarded by the supervisors.

Training Practices at ZONG

By getting information we have found that ZONG mostly use On Job training technique with its
employees which means employees are get trained by their performance in assigned job with
supervisors guidelines how to boost up their efficiency regarding work.
ZONG Internees are trained in various departments with basics of everything and most of them are
hired by ZONG itself.

Types of Training in ZONG

On a general basis the training done in ZONG can be divided into two categories:
Soft skill training
Technical Training
Soft Skill Training:
Training based on strong knowledge regarding personal lives to increase productivity and
lessened their distraction. Soft skill development courses in areas like personal finance and
childcare can help your team better manage the most important areas in their personal lives. This
may include the following things for e.g.
Conflict management training
People management training
Communication skills
Anger management
Time management training
Teamwork training etc

Critical Review on Training at ZONG

ZONG provides good professional development to their employees by several training opportunities.
Company has policies and procedures defined for trainings, assessment, their needs and the
application process.
Different units can apply for the related training through HR. e.g. Finance department in ZONG gets
a training in customer services and so on. Training is a compulsory factor in the organization and is
open to everyone, related to his/her field or unit.

Some organizational training is offered and practiced often like supervisory skills training and
conflict resolution management etc to achieve a quality and practice good business habits. More
focus in training can be paid by addressing different levels. Like these training are more helpful for
managers or supervisors but may not develop the related skills for the lower level employees.
Though company provides many opportunities and surely if these were asked, then must have been
provided for other levels too.
Adoption Towards Organizational Change
Telecom industry is a change oriented industry which should modify itself with time and ensure that
whether it is change in tariffs or an internal change it should be flexible to an extent to accept that
change. Usually top-down change is applied by management so that change is not restrained by
employees. Changes are clearly planned to ensure maximum benefits available from the change.

Performance Appraisal System

Policies at ZONG for Performance Appraisal

Objectives: The basic purpose is to evaluate and improve the actual performance of employee
(current/past) towards performance standards and also future potentials of ZONG.
The Objectives of the Performance Review Program are:
To measure work performance
To motivate and assist employees in improving their performance and achieving their
personal/professional career goals
To identify employees with high potential for advancement
To provide objective information for making decisions on salary increases, promotions, bonus
and transfers.
To identify employees training and development
To provide a solid path for career planning for each individual

Practices at ZONG for Performance Appraisal

To meet companys performance standards ZONG conducts performance appraisal in order to
evaluate their employees current performance or past performance. To eliminate this deficiency
ZONG try to adapt the performance appraisal so that employees should aware of their
performance, also get feed backs from their supervisors and from getting incentives and
development program they could increase their performance.

There are many performance

appraisal methods. ZONG uses the computerized performance appraisal method.

ZONG conduct its performance appraisal of employees in December. Performance appraisal sheet
has been developed by the HR Department and has downloaded it on the intranet of ZONG so that
the supervisor may evaluate their employees. After completion of evaluation it is forwarded to
employees for confirmation and if employee doesnt agree with supervisor he will not sign it and
when HR Department get that within due date than problems are identified and solved.

Critical Review on Performance Appraisal

For the performance evaluation different ways are adopted like online 180 degrees and 360 degrees.
In the past only 180 degree methodology was adopted for the performance appraisal but they have
moved to online 360 degree evaluation. Adopting this new strategy is quite supportive and is
appreciated by the employees because if an employee is happy with the performance evaluation of
this head then he or she may challenge it for the review.

CAREER PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT

Telecom industry is full of competition therefore ZONG has focused on career management of its
employees so that they might understand better and develop their skill for their interest as well as for
organizations benefit. A thoughtful process through which someone becomes aware of personal
skills, interests knowledge, motivation, and other characteristics; acquires information about other
opportunities and choices; identifies career related goals and establishes action plans to attain
specific goals. Career development is the lifelong series of activities (such as workshops) that
contributes to a person career exploration, establishment, and success and fulfillment

ZONG gives promotion of their employees on the performance basis. The ZONG HR department
develops the employees career development plans in which the HR department predicts the next
logical step for their employees within five years.

Motivation
Motivation of ZONG employees is based on two factors, intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic due to fast
growing image of ZONG and Extrinsic due to attractive pay scale together with basic facilities such
as medical play important role to keep the employees motivated. ZONG keeps its employee
motivated by fulfilling the five hierarchical needs of physiology, safety, social needs, self esteem and
ultimately self actualization needs.

MOTIVATION BY DESIGN
JOB ENLARGEMENT:
To motivate employees in every level Management frequently takes steps. Due to this management
use technique of job enlargement by increasing the number of subordinates and giving extra span of
control.
JOB ENRICHMENT::
At the same time job enrichment tool is useful to boost up the skills of employees and discover their
talent which motivates them to do something extraordinary.
JOB ROTATION:
Tool to motivate and expand their skills, knowledge, interest & abilities. It can be either horizontal
or vertical. In Vertical employee are promoted to a new position and in horizontal jobs are rotated
among same statuses. After this it is easy for a supervisor to evaluate reliably. ZONG is doing a
vertical job rotation at a very low level usually.

Rewards System
Policies on Reward system at ZONG:
ZONG reward policies have lists which are both Intrinsic and Extrinsic followed by policies:
Salary:
Objectives: The purpose of this policy is to have salaries subject for review in January of each
calendar year in the light of merit and inflation.
An employee with his/her specific job title will receive salary relevant to his position.
Policy Guidelines:
The Company will pay salaries and other compensations during office hours and on the job
site as follows:
All New Employees have to open bank accounts in specified banks prescribed by the
Company to get their salary every month.
Upon termination of service (end of service), the employee will receive his / her salary
within 15 working days from his last day.
Upon resignation, the employee will be paid his / her dues during a maximum period of 15
working days from the date he / she left the job.
Besides there are other intrinsic and extrinsic awards that leads towards one objective only to
motivate the employees to achieve organizational goal.

Other intrinsic and extrinsic rewards

include:
Medical care
Life insurance
Vacations
Relocation
Credit advance policy/provident policy/advance against provident fund EOI
Recreation
Club Policy Travel

Mobile phone
Business mobile phone policy
Practices on Reward systems at ZONG:
Reward system policies are strictly practiced at ZONG. Employees are paid when they are supposed
to pay. Other rewards are also fast but they are mostly tenure based rather than performance based.
Policies shows that rewards are totally performance based but in actual this policy is not followed
strictly. Mostly rewards are determined by the organizational membership and seniority. Promotion
is given on the basis of performance, as well as tenure.
Critical Review:
Reward system at ZONG is quite complicate. The reason for this is that there are many intrinsic and
extrinsic, direct and indirect, compensating and noncompensating rewards. There is even a
department that looks after the motivational aspect of the employees. How motivation level of
employees can be kept to a level so that they can be more productive. PMO (Project management
office) introduces many club memberships, game shows, lunch arrangement and many more for
employee to be motivated.
Similarly, there are special achievement awards at each individual level. Then there are even team
awards, department awards and division awards.
One thing to mention is criteria for rewards. As mentioned earlier in policies, rewards are
performance based. But this is true only in case of achievement awards, group awards etc. If we
observe basic pays and increments then those are not performance based. Those are more of tenure
based. ZONG does say that all rewards are performance based. However, it is not the case in
practice

HEALTH AND SAFETY MEASURES

Maximum jobs of ZONG are not hazardous to health so, there is no such need of health
measurements. Though everybody wants to be safe and thats why when you visit some ZONG
office to meet someone of a high designation level. You need to fulfill various safety measures.

Recommendations
ZONG has a strong HR system. That is the reason we didnt found much discrepancies in what
management says, what policies state and what employees say. 90% of the times they were same.
However, there were some discrepancies that need consideration and their alteration can make this
HR system best in Pakistan.
Following are some of the recommendations based on those discrepancies:
1. Delegation of authority: Human resource department is not fully authorized to take all the
decisions. Despite the fact that, HR department claims to have the overall management of the
company but actually it doesnt happen. There are numerous HR decisions that are taken by the
other department. So, delegation of authority should be clear regarding decision making for HR
department.
2. Lack of information: Through this project we come to know that ZONG employees were not aware
of the in depth policies due to lack of information regarding formulation of policies. This happens
due to complications in understanding those policies so; ZONG should simplify them for its
employees.
3. Power dissonance: Managers are responsible for promotions & hiring with its pre-required goals
but firing is concerned with Boss but this can cause dissonance among employees for
command/power.
4. Enhancement in recruitment sources: ZONG should increase its recruitment sources. During an
interview, we asked the same question and he answered thats what policy says; on ground level we
do use as many sources as possible. If this is the case then we recommend ZONG that it should
adjust policy accordingly.

Conclusion

From all the mentioned aspects our group has learned a lot from this study and research. It made us
easy to understand almost all the aspects of the presented topic.
As far as ZONG is concerned, generally the conclusion is very easy to comprehend that ZONG
HRM Department has to cover some aspects in order to compete with its competitors UFONE,
TELENOR, MOBILINK, ALWARID, so they have to formulate some new techniques for training
and development.